Okay....trying to catch everyone up! After D'burg the Beast went to War Pony Customs to be repaired. Brother Bear Redd worked on her and got her fixed up! Eagle and our son went up the weekend after Turkey Day ( a week after my surgery)with our small trailer. While trying to load the beast, we again caught the Trans Cooler and busted it! (Our Fault)....Brother Bear loaned us the trailer he had in D'burg to get her home. We then talked to Brother Bear and are buying the trailer, so no more tearing off the trans cooler....Thank you Brother Bear!!!! Then Brother Bear makes a turn-a-round trip to get the small trailer back to us..again Thank you Brother Bear!!!!!!! Then we replaced the trans cooler..again..and learned that the valve stem on the front tire was messed up...the rubber seal inside had deterioted [sp] so here we go....got that fixed . Now all that is wrong is while Eagle was coming home the Bike fell over in the trailer, this has caused a couple of small problems....the rear break light doesn't work when you use the foot pedal and the tack light doesn't work. We think this happened when she fell over on her right side in the trailer and we have no idea how long she was over....this is all small stuff....just so happy that the big problem is gone..Thank you..Brother Bear and War Pony Customs!!!!!! Without you we couldn't have gotten her fixed!!!The Beast is Up and Running and Roaring ...
If it fell on the right side there's a good possibility that the front brake lever got moved and now does not engage the front brake light switch . This would mean that your brake light is on all the time so when you push either the front brake or the rear brake nothing happens because the brake light is already on . If this is the cave the front brake lever will have to be realigned to the front brake light switch inside the handlebar housing . I've seen this happen to several guys . The gage light could be bad bulb , bad ground , or a loose connection . All would have to be checked .
The Beast never touched anything to the right side except the footpeg. The other tiedowns held and there was virtually no damage. Hell the tach light recovered tonight. The rear brake light only seemed to fail when actuated by the rear brake pedal. The front lever still operates normally.
I haven't caught but little bits & pieces about your bike. I got the impression that it was formerly Marco Mike Kelly's personal bigblock Boss? If so, I've driven, raced against, and done a lot of trolling through Naples and Ft. Myers next to that bike. It was always one badass ride and great looking. I was at Mike's shop the day he finished the first build and took it out in front of the shop for a block long burn out. Please give me a bit more of the history possibly by PM if it would be better. I rode with Mike and a number of other Marco/Naples guys from way back before he even thought about Summit. I also know Tony in Mike's shop from the old days. Some great times and great mammories, er, I mean memories.
I remember you from a couple years back and when I was stationed in S. Korea. I have also seen you in TV trailers riding with the S. Florida guys. From what I can tell they by and large are a great bunch of guys. I only wish that there were more V8 riders closer that I could ride with. To answer your question, yes I bought Mikes bike. It IS a bonafied Bad Ass for sure. Unfortunately I haven't had much of an oportunity to ride it since we picked it up in April 07, after paying cash for it. I really don't need to vent here, but let me say that for the three "whole" days that I have gotten to ride the Beast, it was GREAT! My son and I just finished the final "fixes" tonight and she was blowin' flames in the trailer tonight. After I took her to Brother Bear Redd and had him fix what "I, Brother Bear, Tom Chadwell, Adrian and others" thought was wrong from the beginning of the "trial", everything is going to be fine. I just needed someone who would listen past their ego and fix what was wrong. The Beast is better than she ever was, now after "thousands" of dollars invested after the purchase of a bike that was proported to be so reliable that, "I would sell it to my Brother if he lived next door to me and he was going to ride to Washington State (from Marco Island) the next day", that literally never got enough miles on it to get 1/2 way out of the state of Florida, AND left me on the side of the road in every parking lot within 3 miles of the house (almost). Other than that Brother, looking forward to meeting you, shaking your hand and looking you in the eye and saying, "it Is So". All the Best!!!
A few thoughts here which will have a total value of .02 cents. Not meant to take anyone's back, whitewash your troubles or anything, but serve as food for thought. Let me preclude it by saying I have nothing other than a very casual relationship with Mike and good memories of some great riding and farting around. He is not my brother-in-law just for the record, ha ha.
We always worked on our own bikes and so I never had any work done through his shop. I did note the bikes that were coming out of his shop were consistently badass variety and highly modified. It is there that I make my case with respect to reliability. I would fault any dealer or individual selling one of these modified bikes to suggest that they are Goldwing or BMW LT like in their ability to reliably go cross country. I know there are convincing stories from a number of V8 drivers how "reliable" their cross country venture was, but the reality is very few guys have actually done a true cross country. These bikes in any form outside the way the are delivered by Dyersburg can't be remotely considered worthy of the phrase; "reliable cross country bike" or "I'd let my Mom drive it to California." That's simply the truth and anyone who knows anything about them will freely admit to it. Want reliable, buy my K1200LT or a Wing...not a highly modified bigblock with nitrous and scads of other performance enhancements.
I had a bad scene with the V8Chopper pictured below and the guy I sold it to. When it left my garage to be put on a transport up north, it ran phenominal. The buyer had flown down and took it for a day running the piss out of it with my chasing him on a Harley bagger. He had it delivered up north and took it for a days ride and ended up broke down. I was stunned momentarily out of guilt and disappointment but then thought how many times I headed to the track with a bike that ran perfect and kicked ass, only to not make it through my first 1/8th mile run because of a break down. We would get to the point of having one of the girls follow us in a 4 wheeler with a trailer when we did long distance rides with multiple bikes. It was a given...someone WAS going to break down.
The moral of my story is suggesting you took an exaggerated remark proably meant as a simple statement of "it runs real good...right now" and made it a little too literal. I don't think that is a phrase any dealer or seller should use with these bikes as it's going to be taken literally. These "beasts" can indeed run great now and like shit 5 minutes from now. That's the world of high performance and a pill we need to swallow.
There has been a long history of tranny related issues, not to mention dime store electrical systems, and a plethora of bolt on aftermarket items that are not from your Mom's Chevy. We took great pride in the work we would do and VERY confident when we struck out for trips from S. Florida to the Keys, NC, Daytona, etc but invariably, a disproportionate number of our crew would end up on the side of the road, calling home for someone to bring a trailer, or running down auto parts at the closest NAPA (which wasn't always too close when you're in the Everglades) to limp home. I remember one trip to the Key where 7 of us started out and 2 ended up coming home without breaking down. That's the history of these bikes, ESPECIALLY when they've been modified to the degree yours, and ours were or are. As I recall, lots of shit done to that bike. Great for smoking tires and whipping up on Jap bikes but not so great for reliability purposes.
I'm sure there's more to the story and sympathize with any bike buyer who ends up stuck more than enjoying saddle time. Simply take for granted on these bikes, especially the highly modified versions, that break downs, broken parts, and diving into your bank account will be part of the deal in addition to all the shit eating grins resulting from the better times.
Like I originally said, worth a total of 2 cents. Glad to hear you got things straightened out and can now enjoy. Just count on it not always being that way. Best,
The Beast never touched anything to the right side except the footpeg. The other tiedowns held and there was virtually no damage. Hell the tach light recovered tonight. The rear brake light only seemed to fail when actuated by the rear brake pedal. The front lever still operates normally.
If that's the case I would be looking at you rear brake light switch and wiring providing the brake light works when the front brake is applied .
A few thoughts here which will have a total value of .02 cents. Not meant to take anyone's back, whitewash your troubles or anything, but serve as food for thought. Let me preclude it by saying I have nothing other than a very casual relationship with Mike and good memories of some great riding and farting around. He is not my brother-in-law just for the record, ha ha.
We always worked on our own bikes and so I never had any work done through his shop. I did note the bikes that were coming out of his shop were consistently badass variety and highly modified. It is there that I make my case with respect to reliability. I would fault any dealer or individual selling one of these modified bikes to suggest that they are Goldwing or BMW LT like in their ability to reliably go cross country. I know there are convincing stories from a number of V8 drivers how "reliable" their cross country venture was, but the reality is very few guys have actually done a true cross country. These bikes in any form outside the way the are delivered by Dyersburg can't be remotely considered worthy of the phrase; "reliable cross country bike" or "I'd let my Mom drive it to California." That's simply the truth and anyone who knows anything about them will freely admit to it. Want reliable, buy my K1200LT or a Wing...not a highly modified bigblock with nitrous and scads of other performance enhancements.
I had a bad scene with the V8Chopper pictured below and the guy I sold it to. When it left my garage to be put on a transport up north, it ran phenominal. The buyer had flown down and took it for a day running the piss out of it with my chasing him on a Harley bagger. He had it delivered up north and took it for a days ride and ended up broke down. I was stunned momentarily out of guilt and disappointment but then thought how many times I headed to the track with a bike that ran perfect and kicked ass, only to not make it through my first 1/8th mile run because of a break down. We would get to the point of having one of the girls follow us in a 4 wheeler with a trailer when we did long distance rides with multiple bikes. It was a given...someone WAS going to break down.
The moral of my story is suggesting you took an exaggerated remark proably meant as a simple statement of "it runs real good...right now" and made it a little too literal. I don't think that is a phrase any dealer or seller should use with these bikes as it's going to be taken literally. These "beasts" can indeed run great now and like shit 5 minutes from now. That's the world of high performance and a pill we need to swallow.
There has been a long history of tranny related issues, not to mention dime store electrical systems, and a plethora of bolt on aftermarket items that are not from your Mom's Chevy. We took great pride in the work we would do and VERY confident when we struck out for trips from S. Florida to the Keys, NC, Daytona, etc but invariably, a disproportionate number of our crew would end up on the side of the road, calling home for someone to bring a trailer, or running down auto parts at the closest NAPA (which wasn't always too close when you're in the Everglades) to limp home. I remember one trip to the Key where 7 of us started out and 2 ended up coming home without breaking down. That's the history of these bikes, ESPECIALLY when they've been modified to the degree yours, and ours were or are. As I recall, lots of shit done to that bike. Great for smoking tires and whipping up on Jap bikes but not so great for reliability purposes.
I'm sure there's more to the story and sympathize with any bike buyer who ends up stuck more than enjoying saddle time. Simply take for granted on these bikes, especially the highly modified versions, that break downs, broken parts, and diving into your bank account will be part of the deal in addition to all the shit eating grins resulting from the better times.
Like I originally said, worth a total of 2 cents. Glad to hear you got things straightened out and can now enjoy. Just count on it not always being that way. Best,
Elliot (Elsboss)
Elliot, There is a lot you don't know because you were not involved with this certain problem. NOTHING, and I mean Nothing has been exaggerated concerning the Beast on our part. We know that these Bikes are are always needing to be worked on for one reason or another, but after spending thousands of dollars for it, it should have at least stayed together for more than a few days! As stated many times before....the Bike started having problems before we ever got out of FL. After all the monies and time and disapointments and broken promises, and fixing or trying to fix the exact problem (It went back down to Summit for a week a month after we bought it) and still the smae problem existed! After the 3rd break it went to War Pony Customs and it has been discovered that the whole problem was the engine being off set causing the engine, pulley and belt to to not be inline. Now I would say that a Boss Hoss Dealer who works and modifies and rides these bikes would be able to find and fix this problem the first time after seeing the damage to the bike....... Eagle loves the Beast. I will say that The parties involved are the ones who know the "real" truth and what was said and promised and delivered... when you get screwed...you get screwed. Eagle and I have cut our losses and moved on. Now I have said all I am going to, it's time to get on to better things. Thanks for you concern.
Appreciate hearing you are riding and happy with the bike. As mentioned, I know this bike and was always amazed at what Mike did with it... looks and performance. The sound alone can give a guy wood.
I personally stand behind Mike and Summit as a result of history and other's testimonials. He's done and is doing some very revolutionary things with V8 bikes. Although I didn't personally pull the trigger for one of his Vanquish bikes this go around, it was based on dollars only. I could definitely see one in the future and would feel confident using Mike and Summit. This is not to say that your problems didn't happen...they did, however, there are many variables as to why these things break. As I stated before though, you can have one of these machines running A-ok one minute and trashed the next. I can remember numerous pulley and belt issues on my BH bigblocks because of the modifications we had done. They were also extremely hard to isolate even using homemade laser sightings and levels and such. My size/weight doesn't help issues. If you're as big as you look from the pics, you alone can help precipitate shit breaking. Put a passenger on back, it geometrically gets more prone to failure. Been there - done that. I've also unfortunately seen one mechanic or dealer trash another for many different reasons. I personally don't care for that unless it's a historical and ongoing situation.
As a last word about "reliability" (I should do a whole new thread on this topic), I've heard folks who were unhappy due to a maintenance or buying experience from dealers who otherwise have stellar, unblemished reputations. This goes for Mountain BH, Siron, the BH factory, etc. In our world, shit happens without doubt. Sometimes it simply takes a different perspective to get things straight. I've sat in front of a torn apart motor or split frame on a Boss Hoss for hours frustrated that there's either nothing wrong, or there's no fix to this, or whatever only to either have someone else walk up with an immediate remedy or my coming back to it at a later date and getting it squared away. The best we can do on these bikes is learn enough to do as much as able ourselves. Having to trailer, have significant down time, rely on others, and spend big bucks to get us going isn't the best route to go with these bikes. They are in fact labor intensive. Even the guys with stock versions need to get involved in routine and preventative maintenance to keep them "reliable" (there's that word again) and hold costs down. There is also a lot of satisfaction associated with this. Again, best strategy here is when something's broke, get the appropriate parts and go to work if at all possible. You learn about your bike mighty quick.
Again and most important, you're running and riding! If you're going to be at Daytona, I'd really enjoy seeing this bike again. It is indeed "BEAST". Regards,
The rear brake light only seemed to fail when actuated by the rear brake pedal. The front lever still operates normally.
Eagle...
Could be the rear switch just decided to take a dump. I`ve lost a couple of them.
I will say again....the problem was not "performance"..it was the offset alinement of the engine, which caused the pulley and belt to be out of alinement. As for "reliable"..you expect that things you are told to be indeed facts and when you spend big $$$$ on something, you at least expect it to not have a problem that even after returing for repair, that the same exact problem still exists....
It is Great that you haven't had any problems with Mike and Summit and that you can still support them 100%, I hope many others can as well, but after all is said and done We don't feel that we can support them any longer. It is NOT who supports and who doesn't, it's about how any dealer backs his word and work to a buyer.
Yes, what really matters is the bike IS fixed from a continued problem and running strong and she will always be "The Beast"..but Eagle calls her the Beastrix
No, we will not be in Daytona, Just can't afford it at this time....someday we will meet up.
Tom wrote:The rear brake light only seemed to fail when actuated by the rear brake pedal. The front lever still operates normally.
Eagle...
Could be the rear switch just decided to take a dump. I`ve lost a couple of them.
Tom, I think Eagle is thinking the same thing....They will check it out as soon as they can....Thank you for all you have done.
Yessir! It is my intention to start there my Brother. Thank you! BTW my tach illumination light came back on all by itself last night when I fired her up. I never rechecked the brake light thing, who knows?!? Thanks to you and Bro's like you we are making it through . You Da' Man!!! BTW Is it normal to have FLAMES coming out of the pipes?!?!?!?
Brother Elliot,
I can only only wonder why most folks can't understand that I feel just like you do. The only time I/we ever bring this up is when we are asked and then we only convey the truth as we know it from being there. As far as an exaggerated remark are concerned, I guess that my beliefs in honor, professionalism and outright brotherhood, in this case were my downfall. Just like my learning curve on Beastly maintenance, my curve trusting in a person who actually called me friend to my face has been verticle. The comment I aformentioned that you refer to as exaggerated was only one of many and many other things. The bottom line is that I agree with you 100% about the bikes and as far as the other is concerned, the horse is dead and I'm gonna' go RIDE! (well maybe )
Eagle, that fire you're seeing is most probably due to a very rich fuel mixture or a timing issue. No, in spite of that motor being very high performance, it's not a nitro dragster and you don't want to be seeing flames. It's all unburned fuel. Lean it and check the timing.
It hadn't been cranked in a few weeks, I don't know if that would be a factor. Mike K. did tell me that he had it set intentionally rich because of the NOS. I haven't gotten to the point that I have used the NOS yet and I'm not sure that it will ever be an every day thing. There just aren't the opportunities to go there on the street around here. After everything else maybe I should rethink the jetting. Mike "did" offer to lean it out for me, but I was given the impression that if I ever wanted to use the NOS that it was better where it is. As far as timing is concerned it is also where Mike had it. The is an automatic adjustment made through the installed electronics though specifically when the NOS is in use. Thanks for the heads up!
There's books that can be written on carb leaning, timing, nitrous applications and such but some general considerations you may want to consider. On these boards, Geezer, Carb Mike, Adrian and Fast Eddie are great consultants with respect to fuel and timing issues.
Most of my V8 bikes and trikes had nitrous applications. Some mostly for show but some were used often both street and track. If you have electronics set up to handle the advance for the nitrous application, you're probably ok with timing but still need to check it. For general street purpose your going to want more advance than Mike may have set up for juicing it. You've got to retard timing with the nitrous application for detonation reasons. Your bike will get much better gas mileage, run cooler, and be real well behaved advancing your timing within reason.
I know he used various fuel applications and don't know how the bike ended up. Are you using a nitrous computer? Is there a Demon carb? You want plenty of gas when squirting it and it's probably set up way rich if you're not going to running the snot out of it with nitrous. You may need to re-jet down a few numbers. Run your bike...check your plugs.
It's difficult to set these bikes up where one setting fits all applications. We would regularly have to retune both electronically and fuel application when we wanted to get serious on the street or head to the track. Whole different ball game than cruising town or heading down the highway.
I read somewhere that the flames you see coming out of the exhaust of a top fuel dragster is not unburnt fuel but is the oxygen in the air spontaneously combusting by coming into contact with the super heated exhaust from engine. The cylinder compresses the fuel so much that it is almost in a solid state and is ignited by enough amps that you could weld. The cylinder temps approach the temp of the sun for a short time and ignites the atmosphere when pumped out of the exhaust system. The spark plug electrodes burn off after the first 60 or so RPM's and the engine diesels down the track. The only way to shut down the engine is to shut off the fuel supply.
I thought these were interesting facts. I don't think Eagle should see any flames from his exhaust either.
Redtro wrote:I read somewhere that the flames you see coming out of the exhaust of a top fuel dragster is not unburnt fuel but is the oxygen in the air spontaneously combusting by coming into contact with the super heated exhaust from engine. The cylinder compresses the fuel so much that it is almost in a solid state and is ignited by enough amps that you could weld. The cylinder temps approach the temp of the sun for a short time and ignites the atmosphere when pumped out of the exhaust system. The spark plug electrodes burn off after the first 60 or so RPM's and the engine diesels down the track. The only way to shut down the engine is to shut off the fuel supply.
ok....a couple more top fuel dragster fun facts that I remember:
1. The top fuels turn the quarter in about 4.3 seconds. To give you some idea how quick that is; if you take a corvette with a top speed of 200 mph and gave him a running start to reach it's top speed and at the exact second that he crosses the start line the dragster starts from a dead stop....he will beat the corvette across the quarter mile line. Not only will he win that race but will have achieved a speed of about 300 mph and will blow by the corvette at a rate of 100 mph faster.
2. The super charger on top of the dragster requires more H.P. to turn it over than the corvette in #1 can produce to even turn it over once.
Those statistics are mind bending. It's unbelievable that parts can withstand those kinds of forces, pressures, etc. I guess they often don't come to think of it. Watching the NHRA runs it seems like about 50% or probably well less end up making a successful run. I know lots of times it's due to tire slipage half way down the track but often it's parts related. It may have been Jack Phillips (Hawk88) who had emailed me the facts you reference at one time. Fascinating!
I saw some other statistics recently that were equally amazing. Believe it or not, it was about electric motors. Some of the performance figures I saw with respect to electric were incredible especially regarding acceleration. I'll have to look for that stuff later but it was talking about 0 - 60 times well less than 4 seconds and some other unreal numbers. All that while there's barely a "whooosh" as far as noise. Not sure I like that part as the "attitude" associated with the noise of the fossil burning internal combustion beasts is half the fun.
Oh yeah we saw the electric "top fueler??" bike emails go round a few months ago...impressive but incredibly strange watching a carpark burnout with no noise...and kind of stupid when the dopey bugger stuck it into the side of a car I believe he survived because of his 'safety T and sandshoes' as one V8 Bikerider so cleverly put it.
. Now all that is wrong is while Eagle was coming home the Bike fell over in the trailer, this has caused a couple of small problems....the rear break light doesn't work when you use the foot pedal and the tack light doesn't work. We think this happened when she fell over on her right side in the trailer and we have no idea how long she was over....this is all small stuff....just so happy that the big problem is gone..Thank you..Brother Bear and War Pony Customs!!!!!! Without you we couldn't have gotten her fixed!!!The Beast is Up and Running and Roaring ... 
Thanks to you and Bro's like you we are making it through 
